Thefe lines, it must be confeffed, are inconfiftent with the character of a British Shepherd. They would have been more proper if the fcene were referred to the golden age.They are not, however, as affirmed by Warton, coupled; yet it is certain that Pope makes his fhepherds too converfant in mythology, as in Paftoral II, 1. 50-60-81, &c.— All excellence confifts in truth; and what deviates widely from nature can claim but a small portion of our approbation.

Autumn.

is to require what never was intended. The imitations are fo ambitioufly frequent, that the writer evidently means rather to fhew his literature than his wit. It is furely fufficient for an author of fixteen not only to be able to copy the poems of antiquity with judicious felection, but to have obtained fufficient power of language, and kill in metre, to exhibit a series of verfification which had in English poetry no precedent, nor has fince had an imitation."

Surely, in the concluding remark this taftelefs critic forgot his friend Goldsmith's Deferted Village, a poem

"Attend the Mufe, though low her

the Paflorals of Pope, and equal to any thing which that author ever

wrote.

Windfor Foreft.

Is there not fomething like tautology in the following lines? "Not thus the land appear'd in ages paft,

A dreary defert, and a gloomy waste."
Line 185, et feq.

"Not half fo fwift," &c. is an imitation of Ovid, book V, as is indeed the whole epifode. Johnfon feems not aware of this, for he calls it a new metamorphofis!

Sappho to Phaon.

This poem, though paffed over in filence by Johnfon, is by no means the leaft of our author's productions.

p'ring breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the

trees."

I am not of opinion that the Paf. torals of Pope add much to his fame, even when we confider the age at which they were written. They prefent many inharmonious lines, and the images are fuch as had already occurred to other poets, and which might, indeed, occur to every obferver of nature. Johnfon, however, thought very highly of them, tho', probably, without fufficient reafon. "To charge these Paftorals," he obferves, "with want of invention,

ly rendered, and the whole prefents a correct and beautiful verfification, Ruffhead feems to have well appre ciated the merits of this tranflation. Perhaps the most expreffive lines in the whole are the following: "Tis thou art all my care and my dclight,

"My daily longing, and my dream by night:

"Oh! night more pleafing than the brightest day,

"When fancy gives what abfence takes away; "And, dreft in all its vifionary charms, "Reftores my fair deferter to my armis!

Eloifa to Abelard.

Of this molt exquifite poem it is impoffible to fay any thing in its praife which has not been already faid by pens much abler than mine. It poffeffes a fublimity, a pathos, and a richness of diction, which may challenge competition with any poem in the English language. The biographer of Pope, already quoted, obferves, with great truth, that, with all its poetical merit, it is much to be feared that it has done no fervice to the caufe of virtue." This fault, however, is attributable rather to the fubject than to the poet; he was conftrained to adhere to truth; and, in telling the truth, he has been fometimes compelled to violate the nicer feelings of modefty. He might, indeed, have left out fuch paffages as trench upon propriety; but then, I fear, we should have loft on the one fide much more than we fhould have gained on the other.

Temple of Fame.

The opinion of Steele on this poem may, with fome limitation, be conceded to It has, as he obferved, "a thoufand beauties." Yet many parts of it are languid, till we arrive at the defcription of Homer, Virgil, &c. The delineations of the

Mantuan, Mæonian, and Aufonian bards, are in the higheft ftyle of poetry; they are inimitable. Among its peculiar beauties may be reckoned the defcriptions of Pindar, and of The Throne of Fame.

In a careful perufal of Pope's works, you will remark a very frequent imitation of himself (if I may fo exprefs it) in his different pieces. Thus in the prefent poem we have this line

"E'en lift'ning angels lean'd from heaven to hear."

which alfo occurs again in his "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day."

The celebrated fimile of the flone (1.436) is to be found likewile in the Effay on Man, 1, 363.

Effay on Criticifm.

When we reflect upon the wonderful knowledge of human nature, the depth of argument, and propri ety of precept, which are every where manifeft in this poem, and confider the age of the author when he wrote it, our aftonishment is excit ed, fo as almost to question the credibility of the fact. Perhaps this, beyond all other examples, might be adduced in fupport of the divine origin of genius, as it may be rea fonably queftioned whether the mere ratiocinative powers of the mind, however impelled by the ardour of knowledge, could at so early an age amafs and digeft fuch an extenfire knowledge of books and men as is displayed, with few exceptions, thro' the whole of this poem. Johnfon, who is not celebrated for the impar tiality or leniency of his criticisms, paffes the highest encomiums on it, and ventures even to affirm that he never afterwards furpaffed it.

But there is one line which feems liable to objection, as has been already pointed out by a correfpondent of yours at p. 360, vol. I.

"Be not the firft by whom new rules are tried." L. 535.

If this advice were adhered to, furely it would deprive mankind of every generous attempt at improvement. If all waited for a precedent, a precedent would never be found.

526-559 the proper objects of criOur poet points out from line tical caftigation with great force and judgement.

Before I conclude my obfervations notice of a curious blunder into which upon this effay, allow me to take Mr. Ruff head has fallen, with refpect to the celebrated fimile of the Students' Progrefs towards Science and the Alps.

"In truth, however," obferves the critic, "though the fimile is, on

*He was only eighteen. Dryden produced nothing remarkable till he was near thirty.

I will, before I conclude my remarks on this Effay, juft point out to you what I conceive to be the principal beauties of the third epiftle, which is certainly much fuperior to the others, i. e. How far fociety is governed by instinct, but how much farther by reafon, beginning at 1. 109-The ftate of nature, J. 147- Origin of true religion, 1. 215-The origin of fuperftition, 1. 241. This is inimitable, particularly the lines beginning

"She midft the lightning's blaze," &c.

But I must not omit to mention the very exquifite delineation of the delights of virtue, beginning at 1. 309, Eff. IV.

Moral Effays.

In that on the Characters of Women there occurs a line, perhaps faulty as containing a tautology;

If fex be used as a fexual diftinction, is ufelefs; if as a race, or queen line, it is, I believe, unprecedented.

Thebais of Statius. Defcribing the blindness of the wretched Edipus, our poet obferves, "Now wretched Edipus, deprived of

fages; among which the invocation of Edipus ftands pre-eminent, though perhaps too horrible for poetry.

It is remarkable that Johnson has taken no notice of this poem. Surely it is not among the meaneft of Pope's productions: his biographer, too, has allotted but a very short fpace to it. If, however, we confider it as the tranflation of a boy only fourteen years of age, it demands a portion of praife and approbation, which its intrinfic merits would probably not entitle it to. Pope himself, indeed, never thought highly of it, or elfe it is natural to conceive he would have corrected many of those inaccuracies and inelegancies which it prefents. He thought the subject ill chosen, and the compofition in many respects faulty.

Epifle to Dr. Arbuthnot.

It would render this epistle more interefting, not to fay valuable, if the real characters were ascertained

May not "Pitholen" (1. 49) be Dr. Warburton?

Is not "Bufo" (1. 231) the Earl of Halifax? This nobleman, it is well known, interred Dryden at his own expence; to which the laft couplct evidently refers.

If Dr. Johnson's account be true, the following line of our poet is falfe. He fays, he

"Can fleep without a poem in his head,"&c.

L. 269,

Dr. Johnson relates, “that it was punctually required that his writing

In this Epiftle is a remarkable imitation of a paraphrase of Addifon's. Thus Addifon:

"Should the whole frame of nature "round him break,

"In ruin and confution hurl'd, "He unconcern'd would hear the mighty "crack,

"And fond fecure amidst a falling "world."

Hor., Od. 3, 1, 3, v. 14.

This is fomething more than accidental coincidence.

I will not prefume to add my fuffrage to the voice of fo many who have bestowed their commendation on thefe epiftles. They poffefs beauties of a fuperior kind, and afford models of excellence not to be equalled by any writers, antient or modern.

Perhaps you will learn with pleafure that a famous expreffion, hitherto awarded by all writers to Hume, belongs in fact to Pope. It is the following:

66

All, all but truth, falls dead-born from "the prefs."

Ep. to the Sat., l. 226.

Of the Epitaphs of Pope it is not neceffary I fhould fay much, for they offer little worthy of remark, and that little has already been faid by Dr. Johnson. Yet his criticisms upon them, though in fome refpects jult, might be nevertheless controverted in others. His faftidious prohibition of the particle "Oh," ufed at the beginning of a sentence, is founded neither in nature or reafon. It is one of the most natural and impreffive exclamations on any fubject of forrow or diftrefs. It may be said naturally to precede the ejaculations of a heart bursting in grief at any calamity. But however inelegant or inappropriate it may have appeared to that tasteless critic, he has himfelf repeatedly used it in many of his

nately happens, that, in the perverted "univerfal ftate of mankind, all good" must prove a "partial evil:" for, furely, were it poffible, without injuring our valuable liberty of the prefs, to place under certain reftrictions the vile, blafphemous, and naufeous productions of writers now liv ing, nothing could be more ardently wifhed by every virtuous and reflecting individual. I certainly do not conceive it wholly impracticable to make thefe beings lefs dangerous members of fociety; but our legisla ture feem entirely to forget the immenfe connection there is between the literature and the welfare of a ftate. May they never know it by fatal experience!But to proceed.

One pre-eminent beauty of the Dunciad is the lethargic cadence of the verfe (beginning at 1. 385, b. II), and its narcotic influence on the

mind of the reader. As thefe lines were intended to exemplify the fomnific powers of Blackmore, Henley, &c. they are truly admirable; and I think a finer paffage could not be produced from any poet, antient or modern.

The fourth book, however, is perhaps the best. It is lefs perfonal, and confequently more animated. To enumerate all its beauties would be to pronounce the whole book. Yet probably the two following may be regarded as exceptions, poffeffing at once every thing which can dignify poetry, and enliven fatire.

From l. 459 to 490.
From 1. 629 to end.

Of the Letters of Pope I have lit tle to fay. His two epiftles to Atterbury, previous to his going into exile, are pleafing, and in many refpects vigorously written. His letter to the Duke of Buckingham (cxxi*) is compofed in a masterly ftrain of Pope to have been capable, when he fine raillery, and it at least proves

I quote from a fmall folio edition of

ed for Dodley.